Jakob Øster - 178 countries ... and travels with his family to Somalia and Afghanistan!

A family that travels together stays together. Jakob travels frequently with his girlfriend and two young children.

Jakob travels often with his girlfriend and two young children. Family vacations include overland West African road trips, visits to Somaliland, and family excursions to Afghanistan. His children aged 10 and 8 respectively have traveled to 72 and 55 countries respectively.

Jakob also hits the road solo as well. He recounts witnessing a secretive Satanic ritual in West Africa. He overviews his attempt to travel overland from Antarctica to the Arctic over 10 months. Jakob was fortunate to visit Cambodia in the early 90s when the Khmer Rouge still reigned. He visited Angkor Wat when there were virtually no tourists. Cambodia was a bit lawless, where travel sometimes required armored cars where the machine gunner’s bullets cost extra and where marijuana came for free at your guest house.

During this conversation, Jakob joined me from Copenhagen while I was in Chicago on Skype. Please listen in and enjoy.

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Check out our partner and sponsor: Chasing 193, Volume II: The Quest To Visit Every Country In The World.

Explore the unique stories from 20 more world-class travelers from various backgrounds and nations and from all walks of life who have tirelessly pursued visiting every country in the world and have filled their lives with a virtually endless amount of adventure.

And take a look at Large Minority. They organize international rallies around the world including: Sri Lanka, Cambodia, the Philippines and the Amazon.

More about Jakob Øster:

Born in: Denmark
Passports from: 2 Danish passports (one valid for 10 years and one valid for 2 years.)
Favorite travel book: And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini (about Afghanistan, by the author of The Kite Runner and Under A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway.=
Favorite travel film: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (because it is funny, has beautiful locations and brilliantly portrays the contrast between everyday working life and adventure).
Favorite travel site: App: Google Maps (and Check My Trip, Booking.com, Airbnb, TripAdvisor) Website: flightconnections.com – Lonely Planet Thorn Tree, Wikitravel. Wikipedia.
Must carry: Solo: I almost always carry my extremely small and thin travel pillow and my sarong-sleeping-bag (good for when it is hot or not too clean). Family: We always carry a deck of cards and a game of UNO (and play a hell of a lot).
Favorite food: Two national Danish dishes that my girlfriend cooks very well: “Stegt flæsk og persillesovs” (fried pork belly with potatoes and a parsley sauce) and “flæskesteg med brun sovs” (Danish version of roast pork with gravy). I also like Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Mexican food (I eat pretty much everything).
Favorite drink: “BMW” (Baileys Mitt Whiskey) alcohol mixed with alcohol what more can one wish for and Carlsberg because it is probably the best.
Favorite Hotel: There are many. I don’t like fancy, traditional hotels very much since I think they usually have no soul. I usually prefer guesthouses in historical buildings and with the possibility to meet other travelers. One example: Hotel Shreenath Palace, Jaisalmer, Indien – 200 year old “Haveli”.
Favorite Airline: Turkish (for being the airline with routes to most individual countries) and for their fresh orange juice (that they have now tragically abandoned!)
Website: Expedition Everywhere and Jakob Oester
Facebook: Jakob Øster
Twitter: expeverywhere
Instagram: exp.everywhere
Map: Nomad Mania

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About Counting Countries

Counting Countries is the only podcast to bring you the stories from the dedicated few who’ve spent their lives on the singular quest of traveling to every country in the world. Less people have traveled to every country in the world than have been to outer space.

Theme music for this podcast is Demeter’s Dance, written, performed, and provided by Mundi.

About GlobalGaz

Ric Gazarian is the host of Counting Countries. He is the author of three books: Hit The Road: India, 7000 KM To Go, and Photos From Chernobyl. He is the producer of two travel documentaries: Hit The Road: India and Hit The Road: Cambodia.

Ric is also on his own quest to visit every country in the world. You can see where he has traveled so far and keep up with his journey at GlobalGaz.com

How Many Countries Are There?

Well… that depends on who you ask!

The United Nations states that there are 193 member states.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth office states that there are 226 countries and territories.
The Century Club states that there are 325 sovereign nations, territories, enclaves, and islands.
The Most Traveled Person states that there are 875 unique parts of the world.
The Nomad Mania states that there are 1281 unique places in the world.
Me? My goal is the 193 countries that are recognized by the UN, but I am sure I will visit some other places along the way.